NO PERFECT MARRIAGE

NO PERFECT MARRIAGE EPISODE ONE

Nothing breaks a single woman's heart like watching all her friends get married and have beautiful children with loving spouses yet all she gets is false promises from men who would never hold her down or even claim her and introduce her to anyone... Sometimes we want to be loved so badly that we don't really care if we jump into toxic relationships and we choose to condone and survive with abuse because we want to be seen happy out there. We want to show society that we are not badly off and not until we end up in jail or a coffin six feet under does anyone get to understand how bad things were but who is to blame?..

At the age of twenty four I met a man, Cedric was his name and he stood about 5'11 in height with a charming smile that immediately warmed my heart and swept me off my feet. He was what most women would call handsome and he had a chocolate complexion and a nicely built physique that would make it so easy for anyone to notice him. He was also a charmer, knew all the right words to say just in time I really needed to hear them. His deep voice brought about some goosebumps that awaked all the tiny hair on my sleeveless arm and his eyes, let's not talk about his eyes. Cedric smiled at me, I smiled back and I fell in love instantly at least that's what I thought it was, love at first sight...

That afternoon, Cedric had come to the company to make some inquiries about the insurance policies and as I was attending to him, he engaged me in a conversation that suggested he would have loved to meet me outside my working station. He sat on a chair by the reception patiently waiting for me to attend to him and when I was done getting all the documents I sent him to a salesperson that would take him through the policy as I went back to my desk.

Half an hour later, he was done and when he came back to the reception he stood there waiting as I finished up on a call and when I put the phone on the receiver he leaned in and whispered "you are beautiful"

I smiled and said a quick thanks then he reached for a card from the front pocket of his shirt and gave it to me with that mesmerizing smile on his face then asked me to call him before he walked out.

I stared at the card before sitting back and smiling to myself knowing I had found the real deal. I had waited so long for this day that the heavens must have heard me and dropped me a man to bring an end to the shame and finally bring a long lasting smile to my face.

Half the time for the better part of that afternoon, I could not stop thinking about Cedric and his deep voice that awakened everything that was asleep in me. Being a receptionist, I had seen all sorts of men but him, there was something different about him and the truth is, I wanted to get to know him.

Later on that evening I left the office and got a ride home.. most of the time I would use public means but then once in a while I would get an Uber just to get a taste of how it felt like to be in a different class of life so that I would not be taken by surprise if I was asked to ask for an Uber, you know the little things that might bring about embarrassment,..yeah.. those kinds of things. I sat in the car quietly playing the approach Cedric gave me in my head again, it wasn't the usual "I like you, can we go out" approach but he told me to call him. Maybe I was running ahead of time I don't know, I mean what if it wasn't what I was thinking? Calm down Stella, I told myself taking a deep breath and resting my head on my hand staring outside throughout the ride.

A few minutes later, the Uber pulled up by the gate to our flats and I got off then walked away after paying him only to see a familiar face by the gate waiting outside and because of security purposes, no one was allowed to go beyond the gate unless they had a key or whoever you went to see came to get you by the gate.. the familiar face was Rita, Rita was a friend but we fell out and grew distant after she had gotten married to a guy called Dom who was our mutual friend. She looked worried and I knew there was a problem because she never visited unannounced.

I walked up to her, we exchanged greetings and I let her in as we obviously couldn't talk from outside. We walked to my house quietly not having much to say to each other and after we settled in, I offered to make some tea, that was after finding out how her family was doing.

I loosened up a bit as the tea was getting ready then went back to the living room and sat right opposite her. She was nervous and I could tell because of her she was rubbing her hands together and looking around like she was feeding her eyes with information.

"Nice place, this is better compared to the small bedsitter we lived in."

"Thanks. I haven't been here long."

She stopped looking around and turned her gaze to me.

"So, is everything okay, why the impromptu visit, you didn't even call to let me know you were coming"

"I'm sorry, I should have called but, you know we have not spoken for two years, I thought you would be home by now"

Rita and I had not spoken for two years after our falling out but she knew my new place because at one point I asked her to come for the stuff she had left in the house we were both living in before she hit it off with Dom and moved out, only that that day, she collected her stuff from outside the gate.

"Okay, what's happening with you?"

I asked patiently hoping it wasn't a marital problem because this same Rita accused me of being jealous of the fact that Dom choose her and told me some unforgivable words. She must have also warned him about taking to me because with time, Dom and I stopped talking and the last straw was on their wedding day when Dom and I were just having a conversation and she walked up to me and told me Dom and she was married now and whatever was between us had to come to a stop.

" You still don't intend to sleep with a married man do you, look for other available men because Dom is not."

She said then grabbed Dom's hand and they walked away leaving me standing there with everyone looking at me like the flirt they thought I was with some of the ladies around clinging to their men like they were trying to pass some sort of a message...

"Stella I know I haven't been the best friend I was once to you and I'm sorry for how nasty I have been. I don't know what came over me but my behavior towards you was barbaric and I'm here to apologize"

I sat up and now paid her full attention, this had to be interesting I mean Rita came to me to apologize, was she dying?..

"You are here to apologize for what exactly, shaming me on your wedding day and leaving me out of your lineup after starting all sort of gossip or for dragging my name in the mud and calling me out publicly for thinking I was sleeping with Dom?"

"Both"

She responded in a calm voice, way too calm that I would have sworn it wasn't her speaking. Rita was loud, too loud, and talkative that she could talk for Africa.

"I'm listening"

I said as I got up, got the tea from the kitchen, and served both of us...

"I ruined our friendship and I know I shouldn't have because you were the one true friend I had my whole life... I want us to go back to being friends, I mean this bad blood between us is not necessary."

"I don't have anything against you, I forgave you long ago and I cut ties with your man because I tried to understand your concerns but that's just it. I cannot be your friend, I'm doing just fine without friends Rita but thanks for offering."

"C'mon Stella, don't be like that, you know you are the only one I ran to when I had issues, you have been like a sister to me."

"You had a lineup of around eight sisters, the ones you bad-mouthed me with, I'm sure they are more than capable of helping out whatever situation you are in."

"Dom is cheating"

She said putting her cup on the table and looking me straight in the face to see my reaction.

My face lit up.. wait, it had only been two years of marriage and he was already cheating, she must have made her unhappy but was that any of my concerns?..

"Okay, so how is Dom cheating related to this conversation we are having?"

She didn't say a word but from the way she was looking at me, I figured out that she must have thought I was the one Dom was cheating with...

"Wait, you think I'm the woman Dom is cheating with?"

I asked knowing what she thought but I had to confirm that her mind was indeed that twisted.

"You slept with him before, you were too close before I got married to him, I saw the way he looked at you, the way he spoke about you, he had feelings for you so pardon me if I think you are the best bet of his cheating partner"

I got up abruptly and asked Rita to leave my house. Only then had it dawned on me that her fake apology was only meant to provoke sympathy out of me so that if I was seeing her man I would be ashamed or go down on my knees and ask for forgiveness. She was sick in the head, for a minute I had thought that she was being real but it was just the old insensitive Rita.

"I'm not leaving this house until you call Dom and break up with him as I listen."

I laughed so hard think it was hilarious until she pulled out a knife from her purse...

"You think this is funny."

She asked coming towards me with the knife and I took steps back...

"I'm not seeing Dom, We haven't even spoken since your wedding and you made sure of that."

I defended myself by seeing how serious this had become and thinking of the possibility that this was going to end up badly if Rita didn't drop that knife...

"Call him!"

She shouted in her murderous voice and I had no choice but to get my phone and hand it to her...

"I said call him not give me the phone"

"I don't have his number but I will call him if you key in his number."

That response must have provoked something in her because she came at me again with the knife but I got out of her way and pushed her to the couch and I screamed. When I pushed her the knife fell and we were now slapping the hell out of each other. I didn't know how to fight and Rita, on the other hand, was as bad as I was and maybe that's why she carried a knife...

The scream attracted a neighbor, a lady who came to check what was going on and when she heard the fight, she must have alerted the watchman who came barging in like he owned my house and when my attention was shifting to the watchman and the lady, Rita grabbed the knife and stabbed me in back then pushed me on the floor...

"I hope you now know how it feels to be stubbed in the back."

She tried to run off but the guard grabbed her and the lady called the police and she also offered to drive me to the hospital. The stub was bad, on getting to the hospital I was rushed to the Emergency room and the knife was removed but still, I had to be in the hospital for a few days.

The lady who had driven me to the hospital was Clara, she told me when she found me conscious after a few hours of deep sleep that Rita had been arrested and was being charged with attempted murder and some other charges she couldn't remember. She also handed my phone to me and the good thing is I did not have to call in sick as the following day was a Saturday and Monday was a public holiday, that was going to buy me enough time to feel a little better from my sour wound because I had a boss without emotions and replacing me she could do in a blink of an eye. I needed the job to keep my life in order and if it wasn't for the holiday, I would crawl to the job if I had to.

Clara left after the visit and a few hours later the doctor came in to tell me I was going to get discharged the following day...

"The stitches will heal soon and you will be prescribed some pain killers"

He said paying special interest to me.

"Did you report whoever did this to the police because the next time they come at you, you might not be too lucky? The reason you are still alive is that the stub was in the back and it wasn't so deep."

I made a long sigh and looked away from him. Rita was in police custody but who knows how long she was going to be there. Maybe the doctor was right when he said Rita would come attacking me again but what was I going to do? I was worried for a minute but I knew I had to figure something out before the situation got out of hand. Rita had now proved to be an enemy and I was wrong to think she was redeemable.

I will be fine doctor, whoever did this caught me off guard but is now in police custody.

He nodded the scribbled on a pad and left it hanging on a clipboard on the edge of my bed then he walked to the next bed.

The following morning was on a Sunday. The nurse helped me dress up and surprisingly Clara came to see me again she brought me breakfast not knowing I had been given a discharge...

"I forgot to take your number, I should have called before coming."

"That's okay, I'm glad you came."

She opened the door to a cab and then helped me inside. Clara was not my friend or relative but she came through for me in a way I couldn't have imagined. We hadn't spoken before because I left my house in the morning and came back in the evening so I barely had time to socialize.

We talked at length while in the car and after getting to know each other a little better, she helped me get to my house and had me lay on the couch...

She got a blanket and covered me then offered me the tea she had carried to the hospital and we had it together talking and getting to know each other some more...

Clara: your friend, something is seriously wrong with her, who told her in this generation women still shepherd their husbands around?..

I looked up from my cup and our eyes met. Clara seemed like a nice person and judging from the few things we had spoken about, I could tell that she had a rough life and maybe we clicked just like that because mine hadn't been a walk in the park either.

Me: so you mean it's okay for them to go jumping around from one woman to the other?..

Clara: not at all but what she did, coming here to attack you like that was very stupid.

Me: that one, I agree. Thank you for coming to my rescue...

She smiled and then checked the time on her wristwatch.

Clara: I've got to get going. My shift starts in an hour. I will check on you when I come back...

I nodded and smiled back.

She offered to call anyone who could come stay with me but I barely had anyone and I was just going to be fine, that's if Rita never showed up again which I doubted if she would because, after the stunt she pulled, no one was going to allow her inside the compound again.

Clara left and I slid back to take a nap but before I could, a call came through my phone, the number was unidentified and when I picked it up I immediately realized that it was Dom..yes, the same Dom on whose account I had been stubbed.

Me: Dominic?..

Dom: hey, I heard about what Rita did, are you okay...

Me: I'm fine, thank you so much for your concern but don't call my number again...

Dom: Stella wait!..

I didn't wait to hear what he had to say so I hanged up. The thing is I didn't want to give Rita any reason to believe Dom and I were still in communication and it's not like I was afraid of her but one thing I needed in my life was peace of mind, something I never knew what felt like because my life had been a rollercoaster of pain and all the miseries that one could think of...

Before I met Cedric, I had endured a lot not only from everyone who thought something was wrong with me but also from my mother Marietta who called me all sorts of names from barren to claims that I was looking to get married to rich men and that's why I was old and no man wanted to look at me twice. This came after one of the girls I grew up with got married and my mother was among the women who were there to welcome her visitors. Lucy and I were inseparable until she started dating some tycoon and at some point started ignoring me. By then, I had no job and I hustled washing people's clothes, cleaning houses for bachelors and I Stella even washed for Lucy because I badly needed the money and that's when she started looking down on me and telling her mother how desperate I was that I sat at rich people's gates for handouts and waited to do disgusting jobs... Lucy's mum told my mum and before I knew it, the whole village had turned me and my mother into a laughing stock and that made her a bitter woman. My mother stopped seeing anything good about me, her words pierced my heart so bad and her influence on my father made our home the last place I wanted to visit.

A few minutes into my nap, I heard the doorbell and the persistence of whoever was sounding the bell made my heart skip a beat. What if Rita was back, what if she had come to finish what she has started?..

I slowly got out of the couch and grabbed the flask that still had some tea in it and dragged myself to the door, that flask was the weapon I could think of I mean if I smashed it on her head, it would cause a distraction until someone came to my rescue...

"Who is there?"

I asked. I was nervous and was still a bit shaken from the incident with Rita...

"It is me!"

Responded a male voice which I was very certain was Dom but what the hell was he doing at my place?..

I opened the door and he hurriedly walked in grabbing me and pulling me in his arms. I cringed a bit because of the pain and when he let go he cupped my face in his hand and looked me in the face, he had this worried look on his face and for a moment he must have forgotten that he was somebody's husband, a somebody that had tried to kill me less than twenty-four hours ago...

Dom: are you okay?..

I nodded and pulled away from his hold and walked back to the living room and placed the flask on the table. I took a seat on the couch and he sat right next to me...

Me: What are you doing here?

Dom: you hang up on me earlier. What happened with Rita?..

Me: she claimed you and I have been seeing each other behind her back. She stubbed me.

Dom: why the hell would she think that?

I didn't respond to that but gave him a look that suggested he knew the answer to that question more than I did...

Dom: Can I see?..

I pulled the top off and he saw the bandage on my back...

Dom: I'm sorry...

Me: you should be...

Dom: don't do that, if I knew she would come here accusing and stubbing you I would have stopped her. You know I would not let anything happen to you.

Me: It's too late to be making any promises... Please leave.

Dom: don't throw me out Stella, you know I still care about you and I'm here because I do...

He took my hand in his and moved even closer...

Dom: you have no idea how much I regret marrying Rita, you are the woman I've always loved and you made it impossible to prove that to you because when you kicked Rita out of your life, you kicked me out to a threw away a friendship that was beginning to turn into something beautiful...

I pulled my hand from his and got up. I knew what Dom was trying to do but this time, I was not going to get a bullet for him.

Me: get up and leave my house, Dom.

I shouted and when he saw how serious I was, he did and walked toward me but I left a space big enough between us for him to pass.

Dom: I know you are upset right now but this is not the last you hear from me. I made a mistake letting you go and I'm willing to give up everything to correct that mistake...

He confidently walked up to me and planted a soft kiss on my forehead then walked out as I had asked him to...

I closed the door and walked back to the couch and buried my face in my hand and took a deep breath. What the hell was this about?.. why was the devil bringing trouble to my doorstep I mean, hadn't I proven to be tougher than him by surviving all those storms already?..

That evening wasn't peaceful at all. First I could not get Dom and the little act he pulled out of my mind, not that I was excited about everything he had said but why after two years of him and I not having anything to do with each other. Secondly, I had no news about Rita, if she was still in police custody and I had no idea what the police had decided. I knew Rita too well and when she made up her mind about something, she was going to get it done and that's how she got Dom to marry her in the first place. If she was keen on eliminating me then I had to be prepared for her...

Over the weekend, nothing alarming happened. The holiday was okay too and with the medication, I was beginning to feel much better. Cedric never called something that made me think he was just another one of those guys who collected lady's contacts and had their hands full that they didn't even know who to call. Men will always be men, playing with people's feelings left to right and center and yes, I thought he was cute and maybe, just maybe I would have entertained him but if he had not called all that while, he probably wasn't going to...

Tuesday morning I alighted from the cab and made my way to the office and when I got to the door, a delivery man was waiting with a bunch of roses with each having been coiled up with a thousand shillings each. That's not all, I also received a bottle of wine, not my favorite wine but it couldn't be that bad...

Me: who sent these?

I asked signing off as he placed the delivery on my desk...

The delivery guy said the person preferred to hide his identity but I was certain the package was mine because it had my name engraved on it.

The delivery guy left and I smelled the roses with my eyes closed. My moment was interrupted by the banging of the reception door and when I opened my eyes, there stood Rita and this time she had a gun in her hand dressed in black tights, boots, and a leather jacket...

I panicked and dropped the flowers as I watched her raise the gun to my face...

Rita: I warned you, Stella, I warned you to stay away from my man...

before I could do or say anything, I heard the gun go off and the loud bang threw me to the floor as blood splashed everywhere and everything went dark...

My name is Stella Mari and this is the story of how marriage saved my life, then ruined my life, and made me the woman I am today...